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We analysed a 25-year time series of fishery catch and effort data, and age/size information for four large-bodied, native fish species to investigate the hypotheses that under conditions of reduced freshwater inflows and high fishing pressure: (1) the structure of fish assemblages in the lower Murray River system have changed, (2) species diversity of fishes has declined and (3) population age structures of large-bodied, late-maturing, native fish (Macquaria ambigua, Argyrosomus japonicus, Rhombosolea tapirina and Acanthopagrus butcheri) have been reduced. Annual catches and effort in the lower Murray River system were stable for 25 years, but proportional contribution to the total catch from each of freshwater, estuarine and adjacent marine habitats, and the species within them varied. Fish assemblages generally differed between subsequent 5-year periods, with the exception of 1989–1993 when floods occurred in 4 out of 5 years, and the following 5-year period (1994–1998). Species richness declined steeply over 25 years in freshwater and estuarine habitat and species diversity (Hill's H 2 ) also declined after 2001 in estuarine habitat. Species with rapid growth and early maturation (opportunistic strategists), increasingly dominated catches, whilst species with slow growth and late maturation (periodic strategists) declined. Truncated population age structures suggested longevity overfishing of three periodic strategist species: golden perch (M. ambigua), black bream (A. butcheri), mulloway (A. japonicus) and a fourth species with an intermediate strategy, greenback flounder (R. tapirina). This has implications for management because loss of older/larger individuals suggests reduced capacity to withstand or recover from deteriorated environmental conditions associated with a historically extreme drought in the lower Murray River system. Management of these species should seek to preserve the remnant population age structures and then to rebuild age structures by allowing recruits to become established in the adult population. We recommend that assessment of multi-species fisheries in changeable environments, such as occur in estuaries and other end-river environments, requires a suite of indicators that address changes in fish assemblages and populations.

Public Private Partnerships are no longer new. They are now a well-established vehicle for delivering large capital projects or managing services. Many organizations are now working with 'multi sector partnerships' across a huge range of sectors involving multiple partners. The increasing complexity of these partnerships, of the risks associated with them and the outcomes required of them, demand a new level of skill from those establishing and building the partnership. Michael Geddes' Making Public Private Partnerships Work offers a highly pragmatic guide to the processes behind multi sector partnerships including the skills of championing and managing the partnership internally, the organizational structure that underpins most successful partnerships, how to resource and staff the partnership, assuring accountability and good governance, and how to manage and communicate the performance of any partnership. He uses case study examples drawn from a whole range of partnerships to compare different practical approaches to each part of the process; against which you may benchmark your own approach and identify best-practice to follow. Making any medium- or long-term partnership work is a challenge for any organization. The different partners bring different skills, expectations and needs to the partnership. Managed well, the diversity of the partners adds to the success of the relationship and the outcome of the partnership, but this is a process that requires careful planning, management and review, all of which is explained in Making Public Private Partnerships Work. Contents: Context and the nature of public private partnerships; Partnership development process and identification of a champion; Partnership Development Strategy: Characteristics of possible partners; Partnership Development Strategy: Organizational culture; Partnership Development Strategy: Governance, resources and staffing; Managing a partnership's business; Accountability and keeping in touch; Setting targets and measuring success; Characteristics of successful partnerships; Index. Michael Geddes retired from full-time consultancy in 2003. As part of his consultancy work he was the part-time Executive Director of the Milton Keynes Economic Partnership, a multi sector partnership established to coordinate the strategic development of the area. He also served for four years as a Vice Chairman of the Regional Assembly. Prior to becoming a consultant in the mid-1990s he worked in the Cabinet Office as a Civil Service Commissioner and Chief Executive of Recruitment and Assessment Services. Earlier in his career he was a Director of Ashridge Management College. Michael Geddes is also co-author of Project Leadership, also published by Gower.

Giant Australian cuttlefish form a mass spawning aggregation at a single site in northern Spencer Gulf (NSG) in South Australia every austral winter. Samples of cuttlefish were collected from this region over three consecutive years. Analysis of regular growth increments in the cuttlebones of these individuals, revealed a polymorphism in growth pattern for both sexes. Three distinct “bone patterns” were identified based on the variation in increment widths over the lengths of the bones. All bones analysed conformed to one of the three bone patterns, and the increment width patterns were consistent between years. Interpretation of the patterns, suggested that Sepia apama have two alternative life cycles. The first involves rapid juvenile growth during the first summer after hatching, with maturity reached within 7-8 months. These individuals return to spawn in their first year as small individuals. The second life cycle involves much slower juvenile growth during the first summer, with maturity deferred until their second year, when they return to spawn as much larger individuals. Thus, the age compositions of populations of S. apama in the NSG appear to consist of two year classes for both sexes.

There is considerable intraspecific variation in the degree of sexual dimorphism in species of Diaptomus. The ratio of female lenght to male length in 42 species of Diaptomus varied only from 1.02 to 1.23 and did not reflect ecological differences between species. It is concluded that North American diaptomids do not show patterns of dimorphism like those of freshwater centropagids in Austria.

Public private partnerships are a relatively new type of organization; as we have seenthis means that they will need fairly careful nurturing if they are to be successful. But itis important to know how successful they have been and this can only be achievedthrough setting targets and measuring how well a partnership succeeds in meetingthose targets.

Once the steering group has developed their own ideas on the possible organizationalstructure, more detailed consideration can be given to specific issues; in particular thechair and champion will need to have some fairly clear ideas on the following areaswhen opening discussions with potential partners:the nature and role of the members of the partnershipthe nature and role of the chairthe power and functions of the boardthe degree of infrastructure envisaged, and the nature of the post heading theinfrastructure (such as an executive director)the resourcing of the partnership.

The previous two chapters have discussed the initial steps to be taken in setting up aPPP; the next two chapters go on to consider the organizational and resourcing issueswhich also need to be addressed at the outset. While these issues are genericallysimilar for all types of partnership their specific application will depend on the precisenature of each PPP. For example statutory based partnerships will have many of itsoperational requirements set out in the relevant legislation (for example the role of thelocal police commander in a Crime and Community Safety Partnership is specified);for other types of PPP however there is much greater freedom in how they areorganized. The partners in a commercially based partnership will, for example, agreeon the appropriate organizational structure as part of the contracting process.

The increase in the use of the word ‘accountability’ has been noticeable in the last fewyears; however the word has traditionally been used in two different ways in the publicand private sectors. In the public sector accountability has always been viewed in ademocratic sense – elected individuals are accountable to their electorate for thepublic services which their organization delivers. The private sector has tended to usethe term in a more restricted, financial sense – a business is accountable for the fundswhich it manages and this accountability is demonstrated in the annual accounts thata company has to prepare.

The Oxford Dictionary defines a ‘partnership’ as a ‘joint business with shared risks andprofits’; this somewhat narrow definition is expanded in Roget’s Thesaurus whichincludes as related nouns the words ‘cooperation’, ‘inclusion’ and ‘association’. Whiletoday’s public private partnerships (PPPs) are often formed to carry out a specificbusiness task, as envisaged by the dictionary definition, they are just as frequentlyformed to meet the wider tasks lying behind the thesaurus suggestions. Furthermoremembership of today’s PPPs is no longer restricted to the traditional centralgovernment, local government and private sectors; the boundaries between the publicand private sectors are now very blurred and today’s partnerships involve community,educational and health groups, many of whom receive funding from both public andprivate sources.